Mental health has been a great topic of interest for the entire world at today’s date. Many people including young and adults need to take care of their mental health and not only physical health. Similarly, a new question has arisen; is TikTok bad for your mental health.
No matter what you do in your daily life, it does some effect on your mental health, some might do good and some might bad. Similarly, TikTok also causes some effects on your mental health and the effects of TikTok on your mental health depends on how you use it. You might never be bothered by TikTok in your life and one might suffer mentally because of TikTok, so you need to control how TikTok affects your mental health.
What Is Mental Health
Simply, many people might have the wrong idea of mental health as just some kind of disease that affects our brain but this is far from complete mental health. According to WHO mental health is “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can make a contribution to his or her community.”
Mental health doesn’t only include diseases but also being mentally at peace and being able to freely express and experience emotions like happiness, sadness, and even anger. In today’s context, people have started to take the topic of mental health seriously which is a very important thing to do. If you feel like you are having some problem with your mental health don’t just stay alone but share with your friends, family, and if necessary visit a psychiatrist.
Is TikTok Bad For Your Mental Health?
Now, the main question is; is TikTok bad for your mental health? Well, the answer to this question can be a little tricky as it is and is not bad for your health. This is because of how you use TikTok and how much TikTok matters to you.
Various factors can affect your mental health in a bad way but many factors will lead to you feeling good mentally. Therefore, how you use TikTok can be the key element of how much and what type of effect does TikTok do on your mental health. Regardless of that, some factors that affect your mental health are below:
Factors In Tiktok That Have Bad Effect On Your Mental Health
So, there might be some people who might say TikTok is just a medium of entertainment, how can it have any bad effects on mental health. This is also right but many factors can affect some people badly in terms of their mental health. Some of them are below:
Lack Of Proper Outcome
One might be making TikTok daily for a long time but not getting enough likes and view with a very low number of followers. This can cause stress to some people as they are not getting enough outcome of their input. This stress can create problems for the mental health of people using TikTok.
Hate In TikTok
Despite TikTok trying its best to make TikTok as safe and hate-free place as possible, some of the users can be spreading hate regardless. People make a fake profile with a fake name and fake everything then spreads hate comments. Some people might get depressed by this kind of harsh and hateful comment which results in bad mental health.
Also Read: How To Set Up Digital Well Being On Tiktok
Too Much To Take In At Once
As TikTok is full of videos of many genres, moreover the videos are short as well, many types of videos can be seen by a person per sitting. When you see a lot of information at one time, your brain can have a problem processing it at once. This might cause some serious mental imbalance and will hamper mental health in a long term.
Presence Of Experts In Mental Health Issues & Psychiatrist
In today’s time almost everybody has their TikTok account, so does people who are expert in Mental Health issues and even psychiatrist. This can help people suffering from mental issues get help from people who have expertise in such cases.
Some Factors Which Can Make Your Mental Health Better
As nothing has only advantages in this world but also disadvantages, nothing in this world has only a bad side but also has a good side. Similarly, with TikTok, it can be helpful for your mental health too. Some factors which help in mental health are below:
TikTok Can Help Know About Mental Health
As we all know, there are various types of videos in TikTok, one of which is videos related to awareness of the importance of mental health. Many people especially the young groups of people who might not know about mental health issues are getting knowledge through the TikTok videos.
TikTok Can Act Like A Means Of Communication
Many people might be bad at communicating with people personally but in the case of TikTok, you don’t personally have to interact with people. Therefore, such kind of people can also share their mental issues and get help from TikTok as well.
The Effects Of TikTok On Your Mental Health
Above are the factors which affected mental health but the effects of such factors on your mental health are a whole different case. Some effects of TikTok on your mental health are below:
TikTok Being A Cause Of Digital Dementia
“Digital Dementia” is a phrase first used by neuroscientist Manfred Spitzer that signifies in the breakdown of our cognitive abilities due to the overuse of digital technology like TikTok. TikTok can make you forget about the passing of times and you might end up watching TikTok for hours. This surely can cause too much use of TikTok and too much information to process for your brain at a time.
Digital Distraction From The World
Digital distraction and simple distraction are both nearly the same things but in this case people get distracted from the real world due to TikTok. For instance, people can end up using TikTok for 4-5 hours no matter what they see in it, that time could have been utilized in the real world to do something productive. Hence, it proves how TikTok is distracting people from the world.
TikTok Can Cause Depression
TikTok is a social media and we all should know what we see on social media is not always true and people can be faking their lifestyle. Many people watch TikTok of other people and start comparing their lifestyle with the lifestyle they see on the TikTok videos that can make them feel they are not enough. When one starts to feel that way about themselves, it is sure that will slowly get into depression.
Therefore, if you are using TikTok and feel like you are not enough when they compare to the people in TikTok videos then just know what you see in social media is not always true.
Overload Your Mind With Information
As we all know or at least most of us know, how TikTok operates; shows too many videos of mostly 15 secs, due to this time duration, a person can see a lot of videos in one sitting. This can cause a high effect on your mental health and even cause mental diseases as well.
Some effects of overload on your mental health and also health from TikTok are below:
- Inability to concentrate
- Lack of energy
- Being less innovative
- Decrease in memory capacity
- Being more impulsive
- Increase in blood pressure
- Headaches
- Blurriness in vision
Better Ways To Use TikTok To Avoid Mental Issues
Despite the above effects of TikTok on one’s mental health, TikTok is still a great app if it is used properly and with caution. Some better ways to use TikTok which won’t affect your mental health are below:
Keeping A Time Limit
If you use TikTok for a limited period of time, then it won’t be bad to use TikTok as you can get needed information from TikTok just by sitting on your bed. You can minimize TikTok usage by keeping an alarm or a timer when using TikTok.
Staying Away From Controversial Topic
In today’s time, people are more sensitive than ever, so when you talk about a sensitive issue. You will get likes and views but will also get a lot of hate messages as there are always two sides of people in every topic. So, staying away from controversial topics unless it includes you personally, staying away from such discussion is best to avoid hate comments.
Follow Honest Creators & Don’t Compare Yourself
In TikTok you will find a lot of creators faking just to get more views and to get more followers, you should never follow such creators. Only support people who show their true selves and take them as an example to accept how you are. Even if you watch people faking their life for fun, make sure you never compare your life with the way they live.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is TikTok Good For Your Mental Health?
If you know how to use TikTok and can operate TikTok without being bothered by the problems in using TikTok, then surely TikTok can help you in passing time and having some fun. When you have fun or feel relaxed by watching a wholesome video, your mind will get light and you can feel good mentally.
For How Long Watching/Using TikTok Doesn’t Effect Our Mental Health?
No more than 2-3 hours maximum per day is good for your mental health. Use TikTok for just a few minutes or a maximum of 1 hour per sitting, this will make sure your brain won’t get too much information from TikTok alone.
Conclusion
As mental health is a very important topic, we should take our mental health very seriously. Mental health should not be neglected no matter what the case is. Similarly, if you feel like or if someone says your mental health is drowning due to TikTok, make sure you do something about it.
Regardless of that, make sure you use TikTok only in a proper way and follow the above-given factors to ensure your mental health. Even if your mental health isn’t being hampered by TikTok get help if you feel like your mental health is bad.
Also Read: How To Log Out Of Tiktok
